Pliskova breezes past Brady to advance to quarter-finals

Tennis - US Open - New York, U.S. - September 4, 2017 - Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic celebrates winning her fourth round match against Jennifer Brady of the U.S. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

New York (Reuters) - World number one Karolina Pliskova needed just 46 minutes to defeat American Jennifer Brady 6-1 6-0 at Arthur Ashe Stadium and punch her ticket to the quarter-finals at the U.S. Open on Monday.

After facing a match point during her third-round battle against Zhang Shuai on Saturday, Pliskova was never pushed by Brady, who failed to find her groove on a sunny day that cast a severe shadow across centre court.

Brady struggled mightily with her service game, where she was only able to connect on 39 percent of her first serves compared to Pliskova’s 67 percent.

Brady also struggled to read Pliskova’s powerful serve and failed to convert either of her two break point chances.

“I think she was a little bit nervous,” Pliskova said of the 22-year-old Brady during an on-court interview following the match.

“It was her first time on Ashe so I tried to take advantage of that.”

Next up for Pliskova is either 20th-seeded American CoCo Vandeweghe or fellow Czech Lucie Safarova, who play later on Monday.